Aoi Hyoudou
Aoi Hyoudou is the nephew of Satsuki, the owner of the maid cafe where Misaki Ayuzawa works, the son of Satsuki's older brother and is a professional cross-dresser. Appearance Aoi has very androgynous features having big blue eyes with long eyelashes and dark purple hair styled in a bowl cut. As the net idol Aoi-chan he wears a blonde, curly wig and wears Satsuki's old dresses and is almost always, mistaken for a girl by both men and women. Over time, his voice starts to change, making it more manly and less cute, much to his dismay. Personality Aoi likes cute things and being the center of attention. He enjoys toying with the feelings of men, but is eventually exposed as a boy by Misaki. He is generally short-tempered and has little patience. He becomes embarrassed after doing something kind or showing affection for someone; then suddenly becomes angry (he can't show his true feelings very well). He gets frequently kicked out of the house because his father, also Satsuki’s brother, does not approve of his cross-dressing. Misaki is under the impression that he hates her; he frequently scolds her for her poor fashion sense and unfeminine strength. He later yells at Misaki for not being more decisive about her relationship with Takumi, and for leading Hinata on, even if she was doing it unintentionally. It's this scolding that eventually pushes her admit to Hinata (and probably for the first time, clearly, to herself) that she does in fact have feelings for Takumi. Even so, Aoi devolved a crush on Misaki, though he did not confess because he could see she loves Usui. It is also revealed in episode 17 of the anime when Aoi pulls Misaki towards him, indeed proving his hidden affections. While dressed as a girl, he enjoys toying with men and tries to do so with Takumi but fails (because Takumi knew he was a male all along). When appearing in the anime he is dressed as a girl and comes to his aunty's amid cafe and is exposed to be a boy by Misaki. Background He is the son of Satsuki's and Nagisa'solder brother. He was trained in beach volleyball by his aunt Nagisa. Because of his feminine features and interest in girl cosplay, Aoi has been mocked at and bullied at school. Due to this, he toys with the feelings of men as he thinks making them fall for him means that he will be given more respect for who he really is. Takumi is one of the only men who has not fallen for his charms, partly due to the fact that he already knew Aoi is a male. Plot Aoi is first introduced in the 4th episode of the anime. He was recently expelled due to him being a net idol and his father, also Satsuki’s brother, was mad at him. With nothing else to do, he entered Maid Latte, and instantly attracted attention with his great looks. He was to stay with Satsuki for a while, and even offered to work as a maid. Though Satsuki was the one unwilling, it was Misaki who stood up and rejected him straight on, saying that people might mistake Maid Latte as a cosplay rental store. Later, Usui entered Maid Latte, and Aoi instantly “fell” for him, asking Satsuki for the identity of the guy “overflowing with pheromones”. Thinking that making a man of such “high level” fall for him must feel good, he tried to seduce Usui Takumi. However, Usui was totally devoted to only Misaki and rejected Aoi’s many confrontations bluntly. Aoi, bursting with jealousy, mocked Misaki in the staff room. He later caught her changing and blushed. Seeing her in her usual tattered and boyish clothing, he gave her a lecture on how she should be more feminine before asking her how she seduced Usui. Misaki only smiled and lifted him up, and it was then she found out about Aoi’s true gender. The following day, Aoi was waiting for Usui, and Usui finally decided to teach Aoi a lesson. He was pinning him down to the floor when Misaki entered and gave Usui a punch in the face. Later, the staff at Maid Latte was caught by surprise by Aoi’s secret, and Aoi, determined not to give up, claimed that he would soon make them all fall head over heels for him, before leaving with corny parting words. In the anime, Aoi was later seen giving Misaki a lecture again on her attire, and it wasn’t long before Misaki subdued a thief with her Aikido skills. However, as she tore her blazer in the process, Aoi promised her a dress. The dress, a pink frilly one, was ready a few days later, and Misaki can be seen blushing in it. Aoi makes a second appearance at Nagisa’s, Satsuki’s tanned younger sister, newly opened beach house. He was sent there by his father in order to become manlier. Because of this and the fact that his dresses makes people look hot at the sight of it on a beach, his clothes were once again confiscated, this time by Nagisa. He was then forced to do cleaning jobs under the sun, and was complaining about how the Ultraviolet rays were at their strongest when Misaki came to his aid. Even though he accepted her help, he threw a final insult at her, leaving Misaki speechless. Later in the night, while Aoi was returning from the convenience store, he stumbled upon Misaki and Usui, who were hugging just at that precise moment. He claimed that they were making out in the middle of the street, but the truth is Misaki was fearful of ghosts, and Hnoka's ghost story earlier from the barbecue party added on to her fear. She was somewhat traumatized by Usui’s sudden appearance behind her and therefore fell lovingly into his arms. Upon reaching the hot spring, Usui can be seen hoisting Aoi by his waist as the latter struggles, not wanting to enter the men’s bath as it was apparently too disgusting for him. In Episode 24, he manages to convince his aunt to let him dress up as Mimosa to be part of the cosplay event at Maid Latte, but his attempts to show off his costume to the customers are thwarted by both Satsuki and Misaki as they believe he does not have the right to, considering he is not a worker at Maid Latte. He is seen sulking over this when the event is over. Aoi is sensitive to the feelings of love, especially the growing one between Misaki and Usui, becoming frustrated when she keeps denying it. He eventually snaps and forcefully questions Misaki about what Usui is to her, whether she answers him or not is not shown. In the manga, it is said that Aoi seem to develop feelings for Misa-chan according to the manager of Maid Latte (Chapter 55). She noticed that the designs made for Misaki were all good. She even said that aside from Aoi himself, the first person whom he designed clothes for was Misaki. On Misaki's birthday, Aoi even designed a dress for Misaki as a present. However, he is still annoyed with Misaki and Usui for not having a proper date and still continuing to remain in an undefined state. When he started having a talk with Misaki and realized that he's the first person whom she talked about her relationship with Usui and seeing her make a cute face, he confessed that he takes back saying that he hates Misaki. He also added that he likes Misaki. He told himself that he's happy seeing Misaki in that cute state. So then, he began to acknowledge Misaki as cute and told her to become more lovey-dovey with Usui. Trivia *His name Aoi means hollyhock or althea. *He is a skilled volleyball player. *According to the character profile in the manga: **He is specialized in girl cosplay. **He loves cute things. **He was born on July 16th.